Festival season is finally here, and if you’re organising a music event this summer, there’s a lot to think about. From sound systems to catering, your to-do list is already huge. In today’s world, event security is a major concern – custom lanyards for music festivals are one of the best and most cost-effective security tools available to event organisers, allowing for easy visual identification whilst creating a premium keepsake attendees will wear long after the music stops.
Here’s why ordering branded festival lanyards should be at the top of your to-do list
Colour-Coded Access Control
One of the biggest challenges at any festival is managing who can go where. Artists and their crew, security teams, media teams, sponsors, VIP guests, festival staff, and general ticketholders all need access to different areas, and security teams must be able to immediately identify anyone in unauthorised areas.
Custom lanyards for music festivals make quick visual identification easy through colour coding. Assign a distinct lanyard colour to each access category and your security team can spot whether someone belongs backstage, in the VIP enclosure, or the general admission area – no need to check guest lists, a quick visual cue makes it clear who’s who.
- VIP guests – Choosing luxurious lanyards in premium colours like gold, silver and bronze can help differentiate tiers of VIP access. Our colour matching in Pantone and CMYK ensures you get the shade you’re looking for.
- Artists and performers – Choose distinctive, bold designs to get artists through access points without friction, allowing them to keep to their busy schedules without delays. · Security teams – Black is the traditional colour associated with lanyards for security teams as it carries connotations of authority and strength. We offer pre-printed security lanyards that include a safety break as standard, helping protect your team in the event of an intervention.
- Media and press – Choose a distinct colour such as red or orange to make press teams identifiable for photo pit access and press area entry. Since press teams often have close access to artists for interviews and photographs, it’s a good idea to include a badge ID holder to display their press credentials.
- General staff and volunteers – Coordinated lanyards make staff identifiable and keep everyone looking professional. You could also choose to distinguish
- different areas of staff such as catering teams, cleaning crews and general marshals.
- Medical Staff and First Aid – Green is the colour traditionally associated with first aiders, making them easily identifiable in an emergency. We offer pre-printed lanyards for first aiders to make ordering quick and simple.
- Sponsors and guests – Custom branded lanyards double as promotional exposure for corporate partners and can create an additional revenue stream by offering sponsors the opportunity to feature their logo on lanyards and in premium placements throughout the festival.
A colour-coded system simplifies personnel management at large events, keeps crowds moving, and improves overall safety and security for everyone involved.
How Branded Lanyards Project ProfessionalismÂ
It’s cliche, but first impressions really do matter, especially in business. When clients and customers visit your premises or when staff represent the company off-site, a branded lanyard gives your team an organised, uniform and well-presented appearance. Â
For businesses without formal uniforms such as tech companies or creative agencies, branded lanyards unify your team and make them identifiable. Staff can wear their own clothes and feel comfortable whilst still wearing the company logo. Branded lanyards offer a flexible way to give everyone on your team a consistent appearance without the expense and logistical troubles of ordering uniforms. When ordering uniforms, you need to get accurate sizing, order multiple items per person and wait several weeks for delivery. Branded lanyards, however, are inexpensive, small and easy to store, have a quick turnaround, are one size fits all, and each employee only needs one. Â
For companies with official team uniforms, lanyards can still be a core part of the uniform. They allow team members to showcase their professional ID cards and are especially useful for roles that may involve visiting customers in their home such as sales representatives, delivery drivers, or household maintenance services. Branded company lanyards support customer trust by proving that your staff are legitimate employees of the business. Â
Festival Lanyards vs Wristbands: Which Is Better?
Wristbands are often the go-to for festivals, but there are some real drawbacks to consider before you commit. Fabric and plastic wristbands can snag on clothing and equipment, which is a risk for security staff and production crews who are physically active throughout the event. They’re also a one-size-fits-all solution that some people find uncomfortable. They’re difficult to remove without scissors and quickly become unhygienic over the course of a festival weekend.
Lanyards, by contrast, are safer, more comfortable, and more practical, especially for staff and crew. They’re easy to remove if needed and are much less likely to cause injury in a busy backstage environment, as they’re designed with safety breaks that pull away if caught. For VIP guests and performers, a custom printed lanyard also feels much more thoughtful and premium than a wristband.
Many festival organisers use a combination of both. Wristbands are popular for general admission as they’re hard to take off and are therefore non-transferrable, reducing ticket fraud. Lanyards are a better, safer and more premium choice for event staff, backstage crew, VIP ticket holders, corporate guests and performers.
Festival Lanyards as Promotional Items
Festival lanyards can long outlive the event itself. A high-quality festival lanyard can be offered as a free promotional item or sold at an additional cost with tickets as a keepsake. Attendees will continue to use them for their work ID cards, keys and gym passes, taking your event branding with them into their everyday lives and creating massive exposure for months after your festival ends.
The trick to creating a lanyard people want is quality – a cheap, flimsy lanyard will go straight in the bin. A durable lanyard with a great design and clear printing becomes something to keep and use for years.
As a festival organiser, it’s worth investing a little more in materials and print quality to ensure longevity and maximum promotional potential!
Choosing the Right Printing Method for Your Festival Lanyards
Not all festival lanyards are the same quality, and the printing method you choose has a big effect on the appearance of your final product.
Different printing methods are better suited to different designs. We offer two options: dye sublimation and screen printing.
Dye sublimation (heat transfer printing) is the ideal choice for most festival lanyards. It produces full colour prints for complex designs and gradients, perfect for festival branding, which is often bright, colourful, and detailed. It also has a faster turnaround, which is key when you have an immovable fixed festival date and set deadlines. We also offer a 3-5 day express lanyard service for dye sublimation if you’re in a real hurry.
Screen printing is better suited to simpler designs with a limited number of solid colours. If your festival has clean, bold branding with a straightforward logo and up to 4 colours, screen printing offers sharper results with precise Pantone colour matching. It takes a little longer to produce, so plan ahead if this is your preferred option.
For festivals with vibrant, multi-coloured designs, dye sublimation is the better choice. But if you have a simple, iconic logo you want reproduced crisply with perfect colour accuracy, you might want to consider screen printing.
Considerations for Festival Lanyards
There are some important considerations when designing and ordering your festival lanyards to ensure great results:
Quantity – Be sure to account for staff, crew, VIPs, performers, media, and sponsors separately. It’s always worth ordering surplus for replacements and last-minute additions.
Design – Consider readability as well as aesthetics. If you’re using lanyards as part of a colour coding system for crowd management, your lanyards need to be bold, distinct colours to ensure performers, VIPs, crew and more are easily identifiable. Accessories – Badge holders allow ID badges and credentials to be displayed, reducing friction at checkpoints. Retractable ski pass reels are also useful for keyholders who need access to different areas throughout the day. Safety breaks reduce strangulation risks, allowing the lanyard to simply snap off if caught or grabbed – we include safety breaks as standard on all lanyards.
Accessories – Badge holders allow ID badges and credentials to be displayed, reducing friction at checkpoints. Retractable ski pass reels are also useful for keyholders who need access to different areas throughout the day. Safety breaks reduce strangulation risks, allowing the lanyard to simply snap off if caught or grabbed – we include safety breaks as standard on all lanyards.
Timeline – Summer festival season is busy, so make sure to order in advance to make sure your lanyards arrive in time. Screen printing requires each colour to be printed individually with drying time in between and takes longer. Dye sublimation lanyards can be produced in as little as 3-5 days for urgent orders, but it’s a good idea to build in extra time for design tweaks rather than leaving it all to the last minute.
Material – We offer multiple materials with different finishes including nylon and polyester. If your festival has environmental values or a green policy, we also offer rPET and bamboo sustainable lanyards for eco-conscious festivals.
Design your Custom Festival Lanyard
Custom lanyards for music festivals do far more than just hang around your neck – they serve as tools for crowd management, staff identification, brand awareness, sponsorship opportunities and long-lasting keepsakes too. Unlike that one friend or colleague still religiously wearing a faded summer music festival wristband at Christmas, a high-quality custom printed lanyard will look great and last for years.
If you’re ready to get started ordering your custom printed festival lanyards, read our step-by-step guide on how to use our personalised lanyard design tool or get started below.
If you need support, our team are available to help. Simply get in touch and we’ll be happy to guide you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wristbands are a popular choice for general admission ticketing as they are designed to be hard to remove without scissors, making them tamper-proof and non-transferable, but wristbands can also snag on equipment, making them a safety hazard for staff and crew. They are also uncomfortable for some people and quickly become unhygienic over the course of a festival weekend. Lanyards are safer, easier to remove, and more practical for staff, performers, and VIP guests. Lanyards also have a more premium feel and are more likely to be used even after the event ends, making them great promotional items. Many festivals use a combination approach with wristbands for general attendees and lanyards for crew, artists, press and VIPs.
We offer both rPET (recycled plastic bottle) and bamboo fibre lanyards as sustainable alternatives to traditional virgin materials. Both rPET and bamboo work with either dye sublimation or screen printing techniques.
With our express service, custom festival lanyards using dye sublimation printing can be produced in as little as 3-5 working days from artwork approval. For larger quantities or more complex orders, we recommend planning ahead to avoid disappointment as the summer season can be busy.